Numerical simulation of flow of micropolar fluids in a channel with a porous wall

Abstract

AbstractTwo‐dimensional steady, laminar, and incompressible flow of a micropolar fluid in a channel with no‐slip at one wall and constant uniform injection through the other wall is considered for different values of the Reynolds number R. The main flow stream is superimposed by constant injection velocity at the porous wall. The micropolar model introduced by Eringen is used to describe the working fluid. An extension of Berman's similarity transformations is used to reduce governing equations to a set of nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in dimensionless form. An algorithm based on finite difference method is employed to solve these ODEs and Richardson's extrapolation is used to obtain higher order accuracy. It has been found that the magnitude of shear stress increases strictly at the impermeable wall whereas it decreases steadily at the permeable wall, by increasing the injection velocity. The maximum value of streamwise velocity and that of the microrotation both increase with increasing the magnitude of R. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.